http://planenews.com Your aviation news and services. en-us gil@keskydee.com (Gil Gruson) gil@keskydee.com (Gil Gruson) 2008-07-09T07:23:59-04:00 hourly 1 2008-07-09T07:23:59-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9614 By Scott Spangler on July 3rd, 2008 - www.jetwhine.com It’s been awhile since I’ve attended an FAA safety seminar. With good intentions I read all e-mail invitations FAASafety.gov sends, but other weekend responsibilities too often take precedence. A tailwheel clinic, on the other hand, is more important than cutting the grass, especially when it’s held in a place where airplanes are born.  Located on the Rochester, Wisconsin, airport, the American Champion Aircraft (ACA) factory wasn’t hard to find. In the main assembly hangar several dozen people, many wearing their best aviation T-shirts, milled around the tables where the Rochester Library Association sold coffee Grande and high-octane pastries for $1 each. Based on the safety clinics I’d attended in the past, the crowd seemed average.  9614@http://planenews.com Education 2008-07-08T16:21:05-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9613 By Robert Mark on July 7th, 2008 Close on the heels of this 4th of July comes the realization that the most heated presidential election we will probably see in our life times is really upon us. The relentless drum-beat from both nominees is that this nation is in serious need of some serious change.While I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel with those who say the U.S. is busted, there is little doubt that the Congress has forgotten the meaning of the words leadership and compromise. No where does that seemingly worn out notion of leadership - or the lack of it - hit home more than at our own personal bunch of sky-bobbies, the FAA. 9613@http://planenews.com FAA 2008-07-08T16:16:19-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9612 HOUSTON: Following a detailed, integrated assessment, NASA selected target launch dates for the remaining eight space shuttle missions on the current manifest in 2009 and 2010. The manifest includes one flight to the Hubble Space Telescope, seven assembly flights to the International Space Station, and two station contingency flights, planned to be completed before the end of fiscal year 2010. 9612@http://planenews.com Shuttle 2008-07-07T17:04:50-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9611 Russia’s new state-of-the-art Su-35 Flanker multirole air superiority/strike fighter successfully completed its first demonstration flight on Monday... 9611@http://planenews.com Military 2008-07-07T16:32:53-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9610 A Boeing 747 cargo aircraft operated by Kalitta Air has crashed near Bogotá in Colombia, killing two people on the ground. It seems that fire in one of four engines of the 747 caused the accident, just after taking off from El Dorado International Airport for a flight to Miami... 9610@http://planenews.com Crash 2008-07-07T16:31:53-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9609 HAMPTON, Va.: Sixty-one students from 14 colleges and universities around the globe have imagined what the next generation of airliners and cargo planes may look like. Fourteen teams and two individual students submitted their designs in the annual competition sponsored by NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program, part of the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. 9609@http://planenews.com NASA 2008-07-07T16:03:11-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9608 ROME: Alenia Aeronautica, a Finmeccanica company, successfully completed destructive testing on the horizontal stabilizer of the Boeing [NYSE: BA] 787 Dreamliner. The test took place at Alenia’s Pomigliano plant in Naples with Boeing engineers and representatives of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in attendance. The stabilizer is made at the Alenia Aeronautica plant at Foggia in Italy’s Puglia region. 9608@http://planenews.com Engineering 2008-07-03T18:16:01-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9607 Once upon a time, flying movies were a staple of Saturday matinee cinema. Along with wrestling flicks and westerns, they have sadly for the most part gone the way of the fifty cent double feature. There have been some great military aviation movies over the years, however, including a few from the not too distant past. Here’s our top ten list of the best military aviation movies of all time... Vote for your favorite in our Planenews survey! 9607@http://planenews.com Movies 2008-07-03T17:50:24-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9606 American airline Continental and five individuals are to stand trial in France on manslaughter charges over the crash of an Air France Concorde near Paris in 2000. The defendants include two of the airline’s employees, two former members of the Concorde team and a French civil aviation official. The Concorde crashed after its tyres were punctured by a stray piece of metal on take-off at Charles de Gaulle Airport... 9606@http://planenews.com Law and Rights 2008-07-03T17:48:17-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9605 The-Jet, Cirrus Design’s single-engine, V-tail airplane, made its first flight on Thursday, July 3, from Duluth International Airport in Minnesota. The first test version, V1, “performed flawlessly” during its 45-minute flight, the company announced... 9605@http://planenews.com Business 2008-07-03T17:47:03-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9604 MOSCOW (AFP): A civilian Mi-8 helicopter crashed in northwest Siberia on Wednesday killing at least nine people, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said. "According to provisional information, there were 16 people on board, including three crew members. At least nine people died," ministry spokeswoman Natalya Lukash told AFP... 9604@http://planenews.com Crash 2008-07-03T17:46:37-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9603 The Royal Air Force’s Typhoon aircraft marked another milestone in its capability today, Tuesday 1 July 2008, as it was declared operational in the air-to-ground role, becoming the Service’s most advanced multi-role aircraft... 9603@http://planenews.com Military 2008-07-03T17:46:00-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9602 British Airways boosted its new continental Europe-to-America operations by announcing that it had agreed to buy a French airline for £54 million. The privately-owned L’Avion operates two Boeing 757 all-business class aircraft between Paris’ Orly airport and Newark in New Jersey, US. Following completion of the deal, expected this month, it will become a BA subsidiary and be integrated into OpenSkies, BA’s new EU-US subsidiary airline. 9602@http://planenews.com Business 2008-07-03T17:45:27-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9601 A Russian disabled wheelchair woman Natalya Prisetskaya intends to file a suit against S7 Airlines. On the 30th of June the air company refused to take the woman aboard without an accompanying person. Full Story 9601@http://planenews.com Law and Rights 2008-07-01T15:58:55-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9600 With a deafening roar, a Typhoon powers through the haze on the runway and into the desert sky. After a long wait, these planes are now ready to form the backbone of the RAF’s war-fighting capability for decades to come... 9600@http://planenews.com Military 2008-07-01T15:22:33-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9599 LONDON: That shrieking aircraft noise of jet engines during take off and landing is one of the biggest problems faced by the aviation industry. A researcher now claims that it is possible to quieten a jet engine by separating its exhaust into high and low speed flows... 9599@http://planenews.com Engineering 2008-07-01T14:58:49-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9598 XI’AN (Xinhua): The first China-made regional aircraft Modem Ark (MA) 600 was completed, marking a milestone in China’s drive to be one of the world’s leading providers of turboprop regional aircraft. The research and development of the 70-seat MA700 was also underway, head of the preparation group for the China Aviation Industry Group Corporation Lin Zuomin announced at the Xi’an Aircraft Industry (Group) Company Ltd... 9598@http://planenews.com China 2008-07-01T14:58:27-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9597 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.: The crew of the International Space Station will get a go-ahead next week to perform spacewalking inspections as part of a probe into back-to-back ballistic re-entries by Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Two veteran cosmonauts, meanwhile, say the type of steep trajectories flown by consecutive Soyuz crews are safe-but-rocky rides back to Earth... 9597@http://planenews.com Space 2008-07-01T07:00:00-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9596 Cirrus Design is putting its very light jet program in motion. The company has been developing The-Jet, a single-engine, V-tail airplane, and now the first test version, V1, is being readied for taxi tests. Assuming all goes well, the next big step is the maiden flight. The airplane is now in the hands of the test team... 9596@http://planenews.com VLJs 2008-06-30T14:55:47-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9595 Numerous media reports, today, focus on a single sentence in the 67-page GAO analysis reached yesterday supporting its decision to sustain the Boeing tanker protest. "But for these errors," the GAO stated, "we believe Boeing would have had a substantial chance of being selected for award.".. 9595@http://planenews.com Business 2008-06-30T14:55:15-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9594 PARIS (Thomson Financial): France and Brazil are expected to sign a 1.2 billion euro helicopter deal on Monday, Les Echos reported. Brazil is set to announce it will buy around 60 Cougar military transport helicopters. The extent of industrial cooperation as part of the deal is yet to be finalised, the paper said... 9594@http://planenews.com Business 2008-06-30T14:54:32-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9593 CHICAGO: Boeing has agreed to pay a $3 million fine for exceeding value limits on the purchases of parts from foreign suppliers for its military products. Boeing (nyse: BA) spokesman Tim Neale says the Chicago-based company discovered the violations and reported them to the State Department... 9593@http://planenews.com Business 2008-06-30T14:54:00-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9592 The Defence Public Sector Undertaking, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has secured an order for supply of 7 Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters to Ecuadorian Air Force. HAL has bagged this order amidst strong competition from M/s. Elbit, M/s. Eurocopter and M/s. Kazan... 9592@http://planenews.com Business 2008-06-30T14:52:29-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9591 Sudan’s president has ordered a ban on all Antonov and Ilyushin passenger and cargo aircraft following the latest crash near Khartoum, state media says. President Omar al-Bashir also sacked the head of the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and ordered an investigation into recent crashes... 9591@http://planenews.com Crash 2008-06-30T13:04:51-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9590 A mini spacecraft *Oduvanchik, designed specifically for space travel, is expected to appear in Russia by 2012. Oduvanchik will be able to take one pilot and four passengers or 600 kilos of cargo aboard and to carry out orbital and suborbital flights. Full Story 9590@http://planenews.com Space Business 2008-06-30T12:57:04-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9589 At least six people died in a mid-air collision between two medical helicopters in the US state of Arizona, a US aviation official has said. The incident happened close to a hospital in the city of Flagstaff... 9589@http://planenews.com Crash 2008-06-30T00:51:54-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9588 Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of 18 people killed in a plane which crashed into a mountain in Indonesia on Thursday. The military aircraft came down on Mount Salak 40km (60 miles) south of the capital, Jakarta... 9588@http://planenews.com Crash 2008-06-28T14:24:38-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9587 Guatemalan Interior Minister Vinicio Gomez has been killed in a helicopter crash north of the country’s capital, government officials have said. Deputy minister Edgar Hernandez, the pilot and one other person also died... 9587@http://planenews.com Crash 2008-06-28T01:01:26-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9586 Blackswift was previously rumored to be a super secret hypersonic scramjet-based aircraft co-named HTV-3X, essentially a 21st century version of the SR-71. Today NASA has unveiled the real Blackswift (video link), which uses pulse detonation engines (PDEs). A PDE is essentially a modern version of the old V-1 buzz bomb engine. This engine requires significantly fewer moving parts and achieves much higher efficiency than a turbofan, and is technically able to go hypersonic without any kind of ’dual-stage’ engine... 9586@http://planenews.com Future of Aviation 2008-06-27T14:27:09-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9585 New York, NY (AHN): More drastic measures are being put in place by U.S. airlines to cope with the soaring price of aviation fuel. U.S. Airways announced on Thursday the termination of its skycaps, who will be replaced with unionized employees by July 9 to ensure its newly imposed baggage fee policy will not violate its labor contract... 9585@http://planenews.com Business 2008-06-27T14:26:38-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9584 VORONEZH (RIA Novosti): The Voronezh-based aircraft manufacturer VASO has launched production of an An-148 regional medium-haul plane, the United Aircraft Corporation chief executive said on Friday... 9584@http://planenews.com Business 2008-06-27T14:26:15-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9583 MOSCOW (RIA Novosti): A light cargo plane, making an aerial photography flight, crashed in the Moscow Region on Friday shortly after a take-off, killing all five people onboard, the emergencies ministry said... 9583@http://planenews.com Crash 2008-06-27T14:24:56-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9582 An Indonesian military plane with 18 people on board, including three foreigners, has gone missing on a flight from Jakarta to West Java. It was flying from the capital to Bogor on Thursday, carrying 12 military personnel and six civilians... 9582@http://planenews.com Aviation News 2008-06-27T00:26:12-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9581 LONDON (Thomson Financial): Air China Ltd. said it has agreed to purchase 20 Airbus 330-Series aircraft from Airbus Co., and added the basic price of the Airbus aircraft in total is around $3.82 billion... 9581@http://planenews.com Business 2008-06-26T18:43:32-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9580 WASHINGTON: A new airline passengers’ bill of rights has been introduced in the U.S. House. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar of Minnesota and aviation subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello of Illinois introduced the bill. It would provide airline passengers with rights to fair treatment for significant delays caused by weather or other extraordinary circumstances... 9580@http://planenews.com Law and Rights 2008-06-26T18:43:03-04:00